Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. James 1:12-13

Monday, August 31, 2015

Hi friends! Hello new friends! I am so glad you all stopped by today. I want to thank you for your sweet comments. It is so kind of you to take the time to say a little something. :)

Last week I stitched up and finished into a pillow Dreaming Is Free, Three Little Words by Lizzie Kate. This pattern was a giveaway win from our friend Lee.

As you can see, I did my own thing with this pattern. I chose a mystery lavender 32ct linen and picked pretty pink and purple DMC and away I stitched!

Do you like this Sprats Head Heart? I love the look of it! I chose to put this motif into the pattern instead of the called for two butterflies. No offense June! I just don't like stitching butterflies, as I find them creepy close up! (I'm a bug wimp!)

I do believe in miracles! Do you? They are real my friends! Oh yes they are. I prayed throughout my stitching of this for a particular thing I am hoping will happen. As always though, not my will but God's will be done. And so I continue to pray and hope. This is a special, little pillow. ♥

Do you like this pattern? Would you like to own it? It still has the tiny button that came with it. I would like to offer this to one of my followers. I will draw a name on Monday, September 7th. Just leave me a comment here telling me you would like to be in the draw.

The winner of the Shepherd's Bush pattern My Mom's Garden is our friend Irmeli! The pattern will be on it's way to you shortly Imreli. I just need your address! :)
I read the book Bite the Biscuit by Linda Johnston. A good mystery book, as I could not figure out who dunnit til the end. :)

If you are so willing, would you pray for our dear Mabel? She has had another back flare up. She began walking on three legs 11 days ago. I spoke with the veterinarian last week and will check in with him again on Friday. I am giving her the full set of prescription medications for when she has problems with her spine. Brian and I have a feeling she has slipped another disc this time. That would make 8! She is still wagging her tail, rolling over for belly rubs and eating fine. She will stand on all four legs. It is hard to see her struggle though. The vet has told us over these two years that eventually her back is what will be the end of her. With 7 or more slipped discs, her spine will become less and less stable. We are of course hoping that she can stabilize and do well again. She is so extremely smart and very loving.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Hi friends! I can finally share with you the bookmark I made our friend Kim a few weeks ago. I forgot to take pictures, so Kim kindly let me share her pictures of it here.

Kim's favorite color is blue, so I used 28 ct navy blue jobelan. The picture below shows an accurate color representation. I used one DMC color in making this. 160

Both of these patterns are from my book, The Art of William Morris in Cross Stitch. I knew that Kim likes William Morris. The top pattern is simply called Leaves Bookmark. The bottom pattern is from the Kelmscott Alphabet. What a joy to make this for Kim. I noticed the jobelan unravels easily along the edges. Not what you want in making a bookmark. So I ironed black interfacing on both pieces before construction.

Our friend Ele had a giveaway recently and I won! She stitched up this lovely pillow and look, she also sent me two pink fabrics. Thank you Ele!

Our friend Sarah sent me pink fabrics too. She spoiled me with a biscornu, elegant needleminder, Dubai postcard, and a sweet stitchy pattern/kit. Thank you so much Sarah!

Now, if you can believe this! I went to a 1D concert. What
the heck is 1D many of you say? One Direction. Let us just say
Madeleine has been a big fan for 5 years now. We saved and sacrificed,
and went to the concert in Milwaukee Tuesday night. Brian, Madeleine and
I. We are glad we did this for Madeleine, as they
just announced at the beginning of this week that they will be going
their own ways
after this concert tour.

I just chose two pictures to share here. Brian took 140 of them. ;) And then there are ones Madeleine also took. ha!

I have finished a small pattern. I will be making it up into a pillow shortly I hope. I will share that with you next time. Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

Monday, August 24, 2015

Hi friends! It has cooled off a lot around here. How is the weather by you?

Our friend Catherine sent me quite a few pink fabrics for the Epic Pink Tumbler Quilt. Her Minnesota Needlework Guild had a destash pile, and she obtained many for me from there. Thank you again for thinking of me Catherine!

I have finished My Mom's Garden by Shepherd's Bush. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have made changes to the design. First off, I added another motif up top, since I wanted it to be Mom's Garden and not My Mom's Garden. I used two strands of floss for the satin stitches in this pattern. I used DMC. I just went through my stash til I found good matches to the remaining silks our friend Sally included with the pattern when she gave this to me. I bought a variegated blue/purple floss, called Midnight by Artiste for the dark purple in the pattern. Isn't this wreath pretty?

I love this pale pink specialty stitch.

The original pattern came with a bee button. I made up a bee as I went along. It is stitched one over one.

Well now, since this is my garden, I just had to replace the SB sheep with my sweet Mabel.

Mabel is very happy with how thin she is looking here. ;)

Except for the tiny bee, this pattern was stitched one over two on 32ct mystery lavender linen.

Isn't it pretty? You can see I stitched our three kids; initials. :) Thank you Sally for passing this along to me. Would you like to be the next stitcher of this lovely SB pattern my friend? If so, please leave me a comment telling me so. I will draw the name of the winner on Monday, August 31st. You need to be a follower of mine. The remaining silks are included. I will add the Artiste Midnight too.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Hi friends! I did not finish Mom's Garden as I had planned to. Busy getting last minute things done. Madeleine had her first day of school yesterday. She is a high school senior now.

I think Mr. toad got mad I took his picture. He has moved residence.
That is alright. I will have to pick the squash soon and he would have
moved on anyways.

We went to State Fair Park on Tuesday. We brought home my needlework.

This is the first time in my life I have had a first or second place ribbon for anything. :)

I finished reading Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen. I enjoyed the mystery, even though I figured out who committed the crime right away. I had to do a bit of historical royal research afterwards. I was unsure of who reigned when and why. Especially when the author changed characters names.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! We will be having a birthday party for Brian, my brother Jonathan and my brother Michael on Sunday at my mom's.

The Lordis good to those who wait for Him,To the soul who seeks Him.Lamentations 3:25Stitching and praying,Vickie

Monday, August 17, 2015

Hi friends! Boy, has it been hot here lately. We have reached 100º and been mostly in the 90's for days. The kids have gone swimming at a local quarry for relief. I was even able to walk the trails surrounding the lake there. :) Oh that felt so good friends! To enjoy a wonderful walk in nature and experience NO increased pain, what a blessing from God.

Our friend Jo is hosting a Summer Postcard Blog Hop. This is the sweet, stitchy postcard I was sent.

This adorable pooch sampler was stitched by our friend Anna. Here is what she has to say:

I've
attached a photo of Little House Needlework's "Dog House Sampler" that I
stitched for my sister. Her dog was called Belle so I changed "Bark"
which was charted to the dog's name. I also tried to make the coat look
more like Belle's. It now serves as a lovely reminder of Belle who has
crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

I
have a rescue dog called Stella, and she, and all the dogs in the
family--my aunt's, my cousin's, my parents', and my sister's three--are
part of the family. They even exchange presents among themselves at
Christmas! (Although Stella does get a lot of human help making the
homemade dog biscuits.) Pets bring so much joy to the house! Rescuing
Stella even got me involved as a volunteer for a rescue organization.
There's nothing better than being able to help those who can't help
themselves. (My aforementioned cousin, and her family, have fostered 25
dogs as part of the organization I work with. Twenty-five! And people
think one person can't make a difference.) Isn't that a neat story my friends?! I love to read of rescue dogs being
helped and saved. We saved our Henry. He was a former breeder dog. He
lived half of his days there in a cage. The breeder told me she let the dogs
out in the house on a rotation. Here he is a loved family member.♥
Madeleine made us poodle pancakes this weekend.

A few of you friends have requested a picture of the toad living under my acorn squash. Here's for you!

Here is my progress thus far on My Mom's Garden.

You may have noticed a few things I changed up top. I got rid of the "My". I just stitched another motif in it's place. This is not going to be my mom's garden, but my garden! I also used two strands of DMC to satin stitch. Maybe when you use one strand of the silk it has good coverage, but not one strand of DMC. I hope you have a stitchy week. Come back next time! Stitching and praying,Vickie

Friday, August 14, 2015

Hi friends! I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind, sweet words of congratulations. Thank you my friends for taking a moment to leave me a few words of encouragement on my last post.

Take a look at my sweet girl. She is waiting for mama to pick her a few green beans. We love our green beans!

Our first acorn squash.

And do you know what I found under it? Ack! A large toad. I think the tiny toads are cute. The big ones, well, not so much!

This is the first year I have grown eggplant. I have none yet, but look at this blossom. Isn't the pale lavender just pretty?

This chocolate pansy popped up in the wrong spot. I sprinkled some seeds in the chocolate garden of course. ;) It popped up along the base of the garage. Oh well.

I sent a few grape irises to our friend Angela as a thank you for the pretty pink fabrics she sent me. :)

I worked this week on a gift for another friend. Will show you soon once she receives it. I am currently stitching on My Mom's Garden by Shepherd's Bush. I received this pattern from our friend Sally, and agreed to pass it on when done. Watch for it soon.

I was doing some sewing, with little Henry on my lap of course. When I popped up, I left him there in the sun. He dozed off.♥

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Hi friends! We had a good time at the Wisconsin State Fair despite light rain. We went straight to the Craft Exhibit and GUESS WHAT?!? Woo hoo! I got a First Place Blue Ribbon in the Counted Cross article, other than a picture class for my Quaker Ball and a Second Place in Home Furnishings, Linens And Accessories-Needlework, any item, cross stitched class for my Gnome Home.

This, THIS is what I have had plans to make for the State Fair for THREE YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep! I finally got it stitched up and made up.

This would be the most complicated finishing I have ever completed my friends. Tricky and tedious. Tedious finishing. Yep.

I used 32ct Wichelt Black Chocolate linen and stitched with DMC 962 and 963 , two over two.

This poodle chart was shared with me from the creator of it, Carole Watkins. Thank you Carole!

What do you think?!? Do you have a favorite?

Not one of the blogs I used in making this were in English. The construction of the Quaker Ball was a challenge. I used THIS BLOG to help me put it together.

Here I am with my second place piece, my Gnome Home.

Do you remember this?
I made this with the pattern by Bent Creek. It is called "Dinner's Ready".
This was stitched on 32 ct lambswool two over two with DMC, except the bunny's tail. That is Wisper floss.

I go back to the fairgrounds on Tuesday, August 18th to reclaim my exhibits and get my ribbons. :) So neat! I was scared for years to try. I am so glad I gave the State Fair a go.

I do believe this was my longest post ever. Thanks for bearing with me my friends. PLEASE, would you leave me a comment? I would love to hear from you! Yes, I would indeed!

Stitcher's Prayer

God Grant that I may see to stitch until my dying day.When the last thread is cut and scissors tucked away.May the work that I have done, live on.That other folk may see,The pleasure I have known LORD,From the gift you gave me!

Epic Pink Tumbler Quilt

ZERO different, pink, 5x5 fabrics still needed!!! YES! I HAVE ALL 817 OF THEM NOW!!